Unlike Rexall Place, where the Oil Kings have won just one of their five meetings this season against the Hitmen, Edmonton won two of three regular season games at the Saddledome against their Central Division rivals.

CALGARY – There will be no shortage of new looks for the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight when they take on the Calgary Hitmen in Game 3 of the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference final at the Saddledome.

Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal provided a sneak preview Monday at the team’s skate in Edmonton of what his lines and defence pairings will look like, as both teams look to take a 2-1 series lead.

After Edmonton’s wild 6-0 Game 2 win Friday that featured 14 power-play opportunities for the Oil Kings, Laxdal will go with combos he hopes provides more balance throughout all four lines.

“We’re going to try and get (Luke) Bertolucci and (Brandon) Baddock into the lines a bit more. One thing we wanted to try and do is not to break Curtis (Lazar’s) line with (Henrik) Samuelsson and (Stephane) Legault,” Laxdal said.

That, however, is exactly what Laxdal has decided to, as he looks to find a way to get both Bertolucci and Baddock more ice time, while at the same time avoid giving Calgary the chance of exploiting a particular line matchup with last change on home ice.

Here’s a look at the line combinations expected for the Oil Kings this evening:

Henrik Samuelsson – T.J. Foster – Dylan Wruck

Michael St. Croix – Trevor Cheek – Stephane Legault

Luke Bertolucci – Curtis Lazar – Edgars Kulda

Travis Ewanyk – Mitch Moroz – Brandon Baddock

Along with changes upfront, Edmonton will feature new pairings on defence for Game 3 without Cody Corbett in the lineup. The veteran defender sustained a ‘lower-body’ (presumably knee) injury in Game 2 when Hitmen forward Jake Virtanen was handed a five-minute kneeing penalty and a game misconduct.

Virtanen was handed supplemental discipline from the WHL on Sunday, as the rookie will sit out Tuesday’sgame (the WHL still hadn’t announced the length of the suspension as of early Tuesday morning).

As outlined in today’s game preview, Dysin Mayo will draw back into the lineup after sitting Game 2 and will play alongside Ashton Sautner – the man Mayo initially replaced back in round one against Kootenay.

Here’s what the backend will start out as:

Griffin Reinhart – Marty Gernat

Keegan Lowe – David Musil

Ashton Sautner – Dysin Mayo

While both head coach Derek Laxdal and assistant coach Steve Hamilton said they intend on rolling all three pairings, Hamilton said given the three-day layoff since Game 2, he won’t shy away from sending plenty of ice time the way of his top four if needed.

“With the amount of rest we’ve had this series and between series, I think we can lean on these guys a little bit extra as needed,” Hamilton said. “We certainly don’t go into the game with the expectation we’re playing four, or five guys, but as situations arise I feel they can handle those minutes. It’s not going to be more than they’re capable of.”

On the Calgary side of things, rookie Austin Caladine is expected to draw into the lineup in place of Virtanen, making his playoff debut. Here’s a look at Calgary’s lines and pairings courtesy fellow Postmedia scribe Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald.

Cody Sylvester – Brady Brassart – Greg Chase

Elliott Peterson – Victor Rask – Brooks Macek

Zane Jones – Calder Brooks – Pavlo Padakin

Colten Mayor – Chase Clayton – Austin Calladine

Jaynen Rissling – Spencer Humphries

Alex Roach – Jesse Zgraggen

Peter Kosterman – Colby Harmsworth

You can catch the entirety of the series on SHAW TV and if radio is more your thing, Corey Graham continues to have you covered with play-by-play action on the TEAM 1260.

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